Awareness: the Golden Key to Understanding Healthcare Seeking Behavior among Elderly Hypertensive Patients in Taft, Iran

Pirouz, Mandana; Abbasi‑Shavazi, Masoumeh; Jambarsang, Sara; Alimondegari , Maliheh; Mirzaei, Mohsen

doi:10.18502/ehj.v10i1.15967

Volume 10, Issue 1 (June 2024) Elderly Health Journal 2024, 10(1): 62-69 | Back to browse issues page

‎ 10.18502/ehj.v10i1.15967

Mendeley

Zotero

RefWorks

Pirouz M, Abbasi‑Shavazi M, Jambarsang S, Alimondegari M, Mirzaei M. Awareness: the Golden Key to Understanding Healthcare Seeking Behavior among Elderly Hypertensive Patients in Taft, Iran. Elderly Health Journal 2024; 10 (1) :62-69
URL: http://ehj.ssu.ac.ir/article-1-249-en.html

Awareness: the Golden Key to Understanding Healthcare Seeking Behavior among Elderly Hypertensive Patients in Taft, Iran

Mandana Pirouz

, Masoumeh Abbasi‑Shavazi ^*

, Sara Jambarsang

, Maliheh Alimondegari

, Mohsen Mirzaei

Department of Health Education and Health Promotion, School of Public Health, Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences, Yazd, Iran , mabbasishavazi@gmail.com

Abstract: (372 Views)

Introduction: Healthcare seeking behavior is crucial for early detection and proper management of hypertension in the elderly. This study investigated the factors influencing healthcare seeking behavior among elderly hypertensive patients residing in Taft, Iran.
Methods: This cross-sectional study recruited 230 hypertensive individuals aged 60 and above residing in Taft, Yazd Province, Iran. Participants were randomly selected and completed a questionnaire through face-to-face interviews. The questionnaire assessed their healthcare seeking behaviors and potential influencing factors. Data analysis was performed using SPSS software. Correlation tests and linear regression analysis were employed to identify significant relationships (p < 0.05).
Results: A significant majority (70%) of participants reported always paying attention to symptoms of high blood pressure. When experiencing symptoms, over half (53.9%) of the participants indicated a preference for visiting health centers, general practitioners' offices, or emergency departments. Among the factors studied, awareness (B = 0.228) emerged as the most significant positive predictor of healthcare seeking behavior (p < 0.05). Other positive influences included decision-making autonomy (B = 0.177), prior experience with healthcare services (B = 0.131), and social support (B = 0.131) – all statistically significant at p < 0.05. Conversely, barriers to healthcare seeking had a negative and significant impact (B = - 0.064, p < 0.05). Collectively, the investigated factors explained 23% of the variation observed in healthcare seeking behavior among the elderly participants (R² = 0.23).
Conclusion: This study identified awareness of hypertension as the strongest predictor of healthcare seeking behavior in elderly patients. Additionally, providing accessible and supportive healthcare services can further encourage elderly hypertensive patients to seek necessary care.

Corresponding Author: Masoumeh Abbasi‑Shavazi
View Orcid in Profile
You can search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar Profile

Keywords: Health Care Seeking Behavior, Blood Pressure, Awareness, Aged

Full-Text [PDF 628 kb] (133 Downloads) | | Full-Text (HTML) (251 Views)

Type of Study: Research | Subject: Special
Received: 2023/12/20 | Accepted: 2024/05/26 | Published: 2024/06/21

References

1. Bartwal J, Rawat CMS, Awasthi S. A community based cross-sectional study on self-perception of health status and health seeking behaviour among elderly population in Haldwani block, Uttarakhand. International Journal of Medical Science and Public Health. 2016; 5(9): 1798-803.

2. Dida Bedada N, Darega Gela B, Abebe Kerbo A. Treatment seeking behavior and associated factors among malaria suspected patients in bale zone, southeast Ethiopia: institution-based cross-sectional study. Journal of Family Medicine. 2015; 2(1): 1-5.

3. Mentock SM, Ng VY, Narayana R, Ullal H, Kumari S, Badiger S, et al. Treatment-seeking behavior and obstacles to treatment compliance in diabetic patients in Mangaluru, India. Diabetes & Metabolic Syndrome: Clinical Research & Reviews. 2017; 11(2): 617-22.

4. Anwar M, Green J, Norris P. Health-seeking behaviour in Pakistan: a narrative review of the existing literature. Public Health. 2012; 126(6): 507-17.

5. Bang KS, Tak SH, Oh J, Yi J, Yu SY, Trung TQ. Health status and the demand for healthcare among the elderly in the rural quoc-oai district of Hanoi in Vietnam. BioMed Research International. 2017; 2017: 1-13.

6. Chauhan RC, Manikandan AJP, Samuel A, Singh Z. Determinants of health care seeking behavior among rural population of a coastal area in South India. International Journal of Scientific Reports. 2015; 1(2):118-22.

7. Moe S, Tha K, Naing DKS, Htike MMT. Health seeking behaviour of elderly in Myanmar. International Journal of Collaborative Research on Internal Medicine & Public Health. 2012; 4(8): 1538-44.

8. Fenny AP, Asante FA, Enemark U, Hansen K. Malaria care seeking behavior of individuals in Ghana under the NHIS: Are we back to the use of informal care?. BMC Public Health. 2015; 15: 1-8.

9. Ohashi A, Higuchi M, Labeeb S, Mohamed A, Chiang C, Aoyama A. Family support for women's health-seeking behavior: a qualitative study in rural southern Egypt (Upper Egypt). Nagoya Journal of Medical Science. 2014; 76(1-2): 17-25.

10. Green CA, Johnson KM, Yarborough BJH. Seeking, delaying and avoiding routine health care services: patient perspectives. American Journal of Health Promotion. 2014; 28(5): 286-93.

11. Chinnakali P, Mohan B, Upadhyay R, Singh A, Srivastava R, Yadav K. Hypertension in the elderly: prevalence and health seeking behavior. North American Journal of Medical Sciences. 2012; 4(11): 558-62.

12. Azadbakht M, Garmaroodi G, Taheri Tanjani P, Sahaf R, Shojaeizade D, Gheisvandi E. Health promoting self-care behaviors and its related factors in elderly: application of health belief model. Journal of Education and Community Health. 2014; 1(2): 20-9. [Persian]

13. Doust Mohammadi S, Norouzi K, Dalvandi A, Norouzi M. The level of illness perception and its relationship with adherence to the medical regimen in the elderly with hypertension. Iranian Journal of Rehabilitation Research in Nursing. 2018; 4(3): 40-6. [Persian]

14. Baghianimoghadam MH, Mirzaei M, Rahimdel T. Role of health beliefs in preventive behaviors of individuals at risk of cardiovascular diseases. Journal of Health System Research. 2012; 8(7): 1151-58.

15. Girma E, Tesfaye M. Patterns of treatment seeking behavior for mental illnesses in Southwest Ethiopia: a hospital based study. BMC Psychiatry. 2011; 11(1): 1-8.

16. Bahrami MA, Atashbahar O, Asqari R, Fallahzadeh H, Rejalian F, Ardakani SE. The survey of treatment seeking behavior among the population of Yazd, Iran-2013. World Journal of Medical Sciences. 2013; 9(2): 102-8.

17. Gupta S, Virk A, Mittal A, Agarwal BK. Patterns and determinants of healthcare-seeking behavior among hypertensive patients in a rural population of north India: A mixed-method study. Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care. 2020; 9: 2830-6.

18. Osamor PE. Social support and management of hypertension in South-west Nigeria. Cardiovascular Journal of Africa. 2015; 26(1): 29-33.

19. Alemayehu M, Meskele M. Health care decision making autonomy of women from rural districts of southern Ethiopia: a community based cross-sectional study. International Journal of Women's Health. 2017; 9: 213-21.

20. Giena VP, Thongpat S, Nitirat P. Predictors of health-promoting behaviour among older adults with hypertension in Indonesia. International Journal of Nursing Sciences. 2018; 5(2): 201-5.

21. Okwuonu CG, Ojimadu NE, Okaka EI, Akemokwe FM. Patient-related barriers to hypertension control in a Nigerian population. International Journal of General Medicine. 2014; 7: 345-53.

22. Kousha A, Najmi M, Mahdavi Hazaveh A, Moghisi A, ghanbari motlagh A, Yarahmadi SH , et al. The set of fundamental interventions for the prevention of communicable diseases in Iran's primary health care system (IraPEN). Tehran: Mojasameh; 2017. p.17. [Persian]

23. Borhaninejad V, Naghibzadeh Tahami A, Nabavi H, Rashedi V, Yazdi-Feyzabadi V. The utilization of health services and its influences among elderly people in Kerman-2014. Journal of North Khorasan University of Medical Sciences. 2015; 7 (2): 229-40. [Persian]

24. Irwan AM, Kato M, Kitaoka K, Kido T, Taniguchi Y, Shogenji M. Self-care practices and health-seeking behavior among older persons in a developing country: Theories-based research. International Journal of Nursing Sciences. 2016; 3(1): 11-23.

25. Esmaeili Ahangarkolaei M, Taghipour A, Vahedian Shahroudi M. Improvement of self-care for the elderly with high blood pressure based on Pender's model: a semi- experimental study. Journal of Caspian Health and Aging. 2018; 2(2): 52-8. [Persian]

26. Sadeghi R, Mohseni M, Khanjani N. The effect of an educational intervention according to hygienic belief model in improving care and controlling among patients with hypertension. Journal of Rafsanjan University of Medical Sciences. 2014; 13(4): 383-94. [Persian]

27. Poormuhamad S, Jalili Z. Related factors to self-care behaviors in elderly with hypertension based on the Health Belief Model in Uremia County. Journal of Gerontology. 2017; 2(1): 41-50. [Persian]

28. Movahedmajd M, Jahanbazian S. The study of self-assessed health between the elderly in Shiraz and Yasuj cities in 2015. Quarterly Journal of Women and Society. 2018; 8(32): 125-44. [Persian]

29. Mirhoseni SJ, Mazloomy S, Moqaddasi Amiri M, Alizadeh S. The study of blood pressure related factors based on health belief model in Yazd in 2017. Tolooebehdasht. 2019; 18(4): 107-19. [Persian]

30. Murata C, Yamada T, Chen CC, Ojima T, Hirai H, Kondo K. Barriers to health care among the elderly in Japan. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2010; 7(4): 1330-41.